Pella, Jordan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Map of the Decapolis showing the location of Pella

Children playing football in the ancient ruins of Pella, Sep 2004

Classical Pella, 2005

Byzantine mosaic, Pella Project excavations, 2005

The Migdol Temple, Pella Project excavations, 2005

Pella, Jordan, known in Arabic as Tabaqat Fahl (طبقة فحل), is a village and the site of ancient ruins in northwestern Jordan.

Pella is located in the Jordan valley some 78 miles north of Amman, and the site has been continuously occupied since Neolithic times. First mentioned in the 19th century BC in Egyptian inscriptions, its name was Hellenised to Pella, perhaps to honour Alexander the Great's birthplace. The Roman city, of which some spectacular ruins remain, supplanted the Hellenistic city. During this period Pella was one of the cities making up the Decapolis. The Decapolis were twelve (despite the name) cities in Palestine, Jordan and southern Syria which were centres of Greco-Roman culture. The city was the site of one of Christianity's earliest churches. According to Eusebius of Caesarea it was a refuge for Jerusalem Christians in the 1st century AD who were fleeing the Great Jewish Revolt. It is half an hour's drive from Irbid in northern Jordan.

The city proper was destroyed by earthquake in 749. A small village remains in the area. Only small portions of the ruins have been excavated.

The University of Sydney and the Jordanian Department of Antiquities have been conducting excavations at Pella since 1979. In recent years the focus has been on the site's Bronze Age and Iron Age temples and administrative buildings which were first exposed in 1994. Further archaeological work by the University is planned for early 2009 (see the external link below).